Friday midday saw four of us jump in the Kombi and hit the road to The Tankwa Karoo National Park. We hadn’t made any bookings or phone calls but we were sure that we would get a place from what we had read up about the place. None of us had ever been there before and we were quite excited to see this much talked about place.
We traveled up through Bainskloof from Wellington and then through Mitchell’s Pass, Ceres and the R355. At the R354 we turned right.
Turn off to Tankwa
According to the maps we had about 60 kms to go to get to the Park’s reception office but the leiklip road had other ideas for us. We probably had about 45 kms to go when I felt something strange and pulled over. The right rear tyre was half flat! Out came the pump (manual hand pump) and we pumped the wheel up till it looked ok and off we went again. After about all of 5kms later we were once again parked alongside the road, this time to put on the spare.
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Tags: tankwa
Hiking Safari
During the early days of December 2009, Toro Adventures did a very exclusive and private Hiking Safari in Southern Africa. The mission was very clear, find and summit the four highest peaks in South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana. The peaks were named, Injasuthi, Emlembe, Thabanya Ntlenyana and lastly but not least Otse Hill.
We had a limited time span in which to complete the journey and also to allow time for sight seeing as well as resting time.
The trip lasted 11 days in total. Here is the story that made the trip a highlight.
After the collection from the airport, Morgan and I left for the B&B situated in Parys. We stayed overnight in a very cozy and comfortable B&B. During the afternoon we did some scenery spotting and also did the last of the packing of all our stuff and running over the final plans as discussed earlier. After a very scrumptious home cooked meal we made a early night and retired to bed.
Breakfast was once again of very high standards and we said good bye to our hosts which will only see us again in 10 days time.
We Left for the Botswana border and made very progress driving the 4×4 Hilux along potholed roads and also some major highways which made for interesting but relaxed driving. We arrived at the Skilpadshek border post at around 11h30. What seemed like a quick border crossing turned out to be a 75 minute suntan session with a group in front of us busy clearing customs, but it rather seemed like they were running a scatter link operation with constant shouting and waving, followed by youngsters runner all over the show to fetch documents and money it seemed.
After the group left the border we cleared customs in approx 15 minutes, road permit and road tax paid. This amounted to approx 110 Pula at the time.
From here we had about 50 km’s north to travel and then find a suitable road leading into Otse hill which would be our first climb of the trip. Both Morgan and I was pleasantly surprised by the conditions of Botswana, the roads and everything was very neat and clean which added to our excitement. We managed to find a route leading into the bush at Otse hill where we left the 4×4 parked at the bottom. After changing into our hiking shoes and getting our day packs ready we left to climb what seem like a small and unchallenged hill. We were in for a surprise. Thorn trees, Shrubs, cattle tracks and small cliffs made it hard work getting to the top of Otse hill which is only about 1400 m above altitude. We spent nearly 2 and a half hours climbing this hill. The temperature outside did not make it easy as we were constantly reading on the outside thermometer in the 4×4 35 degrees Celsius. We marked the route as we climbed to the top. The view was really something to see form up here and is really worth the effort. The famous Mountain Baboon was evident by it’s call and even found some of its marks left from eating fruits ect up there. We managed to lose some of the markers which made the descent challenging but nonetheless fun.
Taken from the side of the road
Tags: 4x4, botswana, Hiking, lesotho, Peaks, Sani Pass, Swaziland
CKGR 2010 – 24th April – 2nd May.
1 x Toyota KZ-TE, 1 x Toyota Fortuner,
Conqueror Compact 2 and 2541Km
Hilux KZ-TE
Our Plan was to travel up through Zeerust into Khutse, spend 2 nights there before making our way up north to Deception Valley and then exit through Matswere Gate and travel back to SA on the A14 stopping at Khama Rhino Sanctuary.
Tags: Deception Valley, Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Khutse, Pipers pan
Boegoeberg
Boegoeberg offers 20 camping sites, some self catering units, a guest house, lapa, 4×4 trail and spectacular views.
It is about 20Km from Clanwilliam and 18Km from Graafwater.
There are no formal hiking and mountain biking trails but you are allowed to walk on the 4×4 routes and on the farm. The view from the route is spectacular. There is enough gravel roads and 4×4 trails to keep a muntain biker busy for most of the weekend.
I went for a short hike one morning and saw a pair of Verreaux’s (Black) Eagle (Witkruisarend) on one of the cliffs. According to the owner, Sybrie de Beer, there is another pair close to one of the rustic camps.
At the camping site you can relax in a big swimming pool. There are clean hot showers and flush toilets. The hot water comes from a “Donkey” .
At the camp sites you will have to choose between having grass on your camp site or camping under nice big trees. The grass does not grow under the big trees, thus you cannot have both.
Tags: 4x4 clanwilliam, boegoeberg, boegoeberg 4x4, camping clanwilliam, clanwilliam
Edgar, Jenny, Verine and I left Wellington fairly early on Saturday 8th August bound for Appelboskraal, a private farm that belongs to a friend of ours. The Monday was a public holiday and we were all looking forward to a lovely long weekend in and around the Cederberg.
Naturally our route took us through the magnificent Bainskloof Pass and we stopped near the top for some photos and to breathe the fresh air. From there we went through Mitchell’s Pass on our way to Ceres. Both these passes were built by Andrew Geddes Bain who had his son Thomas working with him on Bainskloof Pass as an apprentice. The old man must have been a good teacher because Thomas went on to build more than twenty magnificent passes using the tried and tested dry packed method past down to him by his dad which is still very functional even during heavy rain in Bainskloof.
Tags: Appelboskraal, enjolife
Thursday 23rd April
We got the Kombi packed, dogs sorted out, doors locked, windows closed and a hundred other things done and left Wellington at about 12 o’clock on Thursday 23rd April. We were going to meet up with our Syncro buddies in Maseru on Saturday and travel through Lesotho together. That was the original plan! What changed our plans slightly was that we had just bought a new (to us) T5 Kombi 4motion which doesn’t have the kind of ground clearance that the older T3 Syncro has. The fleet of T3 Syncro’s we were going to meet up with were going to do an off-road excursion through unmarked territory which the 4motion T5, although four wheel drive, is not capable of doing because it is too low. So our “old” Syncro was parked in the shed with its nose all out of joint and we left in the “new” Kombi with plans to meet up with the guys but to go our own way when they headed off into the wide blue yonder, or should I say into mountain goat territory.
We drove through the amazing Bainskloof Pass which is on our doorstep and it was the perfect appetiser to our journey when we looked back after the trip reminiscing over what we had experienced in the Mountain Kingdom. Instead of turning right for Worcester and the N1, we carried on straight and drove through Mitchells Pass and Ceres. We were driving up Theronsberg Pass when the heavens opened and it started pouring with rain. We actually carried on straight on the R355 with the intention of going up via Sutherland but we had to slow down to walking speed as visibility was almost zero and when the road changed to gravel we decided to turn around after a few kilometres as conditions were quite ridiculous and we didn’t want to end our holiday so soon. I was very worried about turning around because you couldn’t see whether anyone was coming from either direction so we took quite a risk there. We actually filmed the rain pelting down on the windscreen with the video camera while going through Die Venster because it was so unbelievably hard. We joined the N1 and went past Touwsriver and Rooikoppies and stopped in a freezing Matjiesfontein for a lovely toasted sandwich and coffee while we watched the staff trying to light a fire in the kaggel in the Coffee Shop. By the time we left they still had not managed to light it.
The big news from C4 Images and Safaris’ is the success of another Masai Mara tour in Kenya. The Masai Mara, or Mara as it is known locally, is one of those places that makes you realise just how much nature can throw at you. It simply is the “Greatest wildlife show on earth”.
Tags: c4 images and safaris, photo tours
Kaokoveld 2009 by Hennie Marais
I’m new, so forgive me if I appear like an upstart. I had the privilege of experiencing Namibia with wonderful family and an awesome mate and wanted to share it.
For back ground: My previous vehicle was a 2000 2.7 Hilux D/C 4×4, which was good but I never really had the opportunity to test it, only had it for a year. Before that I drove a 1995 2.4 Hilux D/C 4×4, an AWESOME vehicle. (Cannot forgive myself for selling it, WANT IT BACK sirriasly!) Had been looking at the 4.0 V6 Hilux D/C during late 2008 (my one bro-in-law, Jan had one) but the price was bit much with the extra’s I wanted. My better halve was not impresed, she wanted a proper car. (What?!) Then early Dec 2008 a mate who works for Toyota called, said there was good discount on Fortuner V6 due to the new shape coming in 2009. So I took a 3.0 D for a test drive. Not impressed. Lazy. (having driven an 2.4 Hilux for 4 years that says a lot) He then got a V6 demo. And I (and the missus) was hooked. Long story= short: bought one.
Back to Namibia(NM for short)): eldest bro-in-law, Philip had been trying for few years to get family trip to NM going. Youngest bro-in-law, Dewald joined in, and BINGO! My best mate who’ve been living in Canada for the past 18 years heard about the trip, immediately declared himself part of my wife’s family, (even offered to change his surname in order to join), and rented a 4×4 to join. The planning was sooooo good, Jan and Dewald having been on these trips before, were very helpful. Eventually D-Day arrived: 26 June 2009. We drove from Barberton to Pta after much, much, MUCH preparation. (I had bought a second hand ex-Escom off-road tool trailer and had some serious work done on it)
Arrived in Pta at +- 17h00, and immediately smelled hot oil when I got out of Forest (named the Fortuner + trailer combo Forest Hump: the Fortuner just wants to run (“Run Forest Run”) the trailer is the camel-(my late father always called a trailer the camel) therefor the Hump.)
Checked and saw some grease spatter on the Hump’s left wheel- checked and discussed with Jan, and decided that it was just excess from checking and repacking.
Convoy Outside Zerust
By Landy Les
I’ve named our trip so because of the events that happened in Zambia,the one side being the beauty of Africa and its people and the other side of Africa when things go wrong. Firstly our planned trip was from Greyton to Zambia via Mauasehebe,ghanzi,chobe,ngoma bridge,Katima Mulilo.Liuwa plains,north and south Kafue ,mulobezi back to Katima and back home via the caprivi strip and through Nambia, west coast and home.I’ll skip the botswana leg of the trip because most people want to know about Zambia.(that said we had the most amazing encounter with a pride of lions in Mabua that would be hard to beat)
Before we started I was always nervy about the border crossings and police checks.So as when we can we always head for smaller crossing points,so we chose Katima and all our fears were totally misplaced it was a crossing that everyone should make .At first when you enter into Zambia and you pull into the compound on the left which was full of people it is overwhelming but then you realise nobody is interested in you they are just going about their own business, so now you are relaxed you enter the only official looking building there and you go to Immigration you pay for visa $50 (no charge for our little Ollie despite him having a passport) then one of the third party agents leads you to his hut and you pay for this in rands or dollar R150 we paid,he then escorts you to the customs where you receive your import permit and carbon tax again payable in rand R130,they then point you to the road levy caravan where you pay $20 and finally to the local levy in a caravan that is in an unbelieveable state and you pay your R50.The whole process took perhaps 30 minutes everybody was extremely helpful and it was an experience I will never forget it was so comical.
Ltezhi Tezhi dam
Tags: africa
